Ours is a governmental scheme of extreme complexity. As with animal
organisms so with political systems, the higher they rise in the scale
of development the more complicated they tend to become. An absolute
monarchy is simplicity itself compared with our dual system. To maintain
the proper adjustment of such a machine requires intelligence of a high
order. The machine will not run itself and male tinkers have abundantly
demonstrated that it is not fool-proof. But something more is required
than mere intelligence. There must be, at least among the leaders, an
instinct for governmental problems as distinguished from those of a
merely social or personal character; an ability to recognize and a
willingness to conform to underlying principles.

How will the women voters meet this test? Granting (what few will
dispute) that their intelligence at least equals that of the men, will
they be as likely as men to look beyond the immediate social welfare
problem to the governmental principle at stake? Will an abstract
proposition hold its own in their minds against a concrete appeal?

We do not attempt to answer these questions, but they contain food for
thought.




VI

CONGRESS _versus_ THE SUPREME COURT--THE CHILD LABOR LAWS